NEWS

Plant:To Let

Source: Agency, Date: January , 2010

As the owner of Landscape Development, a family-run company that has been around for three decades now, Dev Gujral gives plants on rent to some of the big multi-national companies and PSUs. This is part of the bigger business of landscaping, which is the core activity. He also deals in garden accessories through 600 dealers across the country.

Giving plants on rent is a fairly new business, having picked up over the last few years, but it is now growing in a big way. "In the last seven to eight years, I have seen it grow very fast. Instead of buying plants to decorate their premises, many companies now rent plants," says Gujral. The major customers for companies that give plants on rent are corporate houses, event management companies and wedding planners. Gujral boasts of clients such as Dell, NHPC, IBM and E&Y.

Following Gujral's footsteps Ravindra Wadekar, in Mumbai ,gives plants on rent. Owner of Plant rent company Ujjwal Enterprise,Wadekar ,a horticulturist himself, says that dealing with plants is his passion . His "plant library" gives out various varieties to interested customers. "Just like you have a book library, similarly, you have a plant library from which you rent out plants," he says. Some plants need to be changed every eight or fifteen days, he adds.

It starts from the farms and ends at the client’s site, which could be the office premises, an event or a wedding party. The business involves renting out plants to interested parties. The varieties could vary depending on what the customer wants, the size of the premises, the occasion and the money that the customer would want to spend. “We give green plants. Basically there are eight to ten varieties that do very well,” says Gujral, who grows these plants at his 40-acre farm on the outskirts of Delhi. He claims to have a well-equipped greenhouse; here he can maintain the temperature at 25 degree Celsius even in Delhi’s summers when the temperature touches 45 degree Celsius.His customers include:Corporate houses, public sector companies, event management firms,wedding planners and business centres.